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Don't forget your carrier bags!

From today, retailers across England will begin charging 5p for single-use carrier bags as part of new government legislation to reduce waste and improve our environment.

The Carrier Bag Charge | What we are doing

We want to do every little thing we can to help make the government’s bag charge as easy as possible for our customers. To help them get used to reusing and recycling their bags, last week we gave away free bags for life in stores. In just seven days, we gave away over 30 million strong, durable, reusable bags to millions of shoppers – helping them save money and all of us to reduce our bag use over the long run. Over the coming days we’ll also be sharing hints and tips on ways to help make sure customers don’t forget to bring a bag when out on a shopping trip.

If our customers do decide to buy a 5p single-use bag – they’ll be getting a new stronger and sturdier bag made from recycled plastic.

The money raised from the 5p bag charge will be used to make a lasting improvement to green spaces in our communities across the UK. These will range from building new parks and sports facilities, to woodland walks and community gardens: great places that our customers will really benefit from.

This is our customers’ money and it is right that they decide where it is being spent. So we’ll be asking customers and colleagues to nominate and then vote for the projects they most want to benefit in their area.

The new local community scheme will be administered by Groundwork, an expert environmental improvement charity, who we’re really proud to be working with. This will replace the existing programmes we have in Scotland and Wales and will mean we can have the greatest impact on communities around the country.

The bag charge is a really big opportunity for us to make a huge difference to the communities we serve, and we look forward to sharing more information about how to get involved in our new community scheme in the coming weeks. You can read more about it at http://www.tesco.com/carrier-bags/